


Somber Waves

by orphan_account



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Love, Meet-Cute, No Smut, Pyrocynical - Freeform, RPF, Soulmates, Tattoos, YouTube, aesthetic, artist, but allusions to sex/sexual activity, hyojin, squizxy, vaporwave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 19:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Prompt (from Tumblr): Everyone is born with a small tattoo on their body, grows as time goes on w/ your soulmate (images, words, interests etc.)





	

  The tattoo on Hyojin’s body had started out as a small old-fashioned television; all black and white, below her right breast on her ribcage.

  As time went on, the single image grew into wires that went up her ribs, wrapping around her shoulder. These wires formed beautiful, intricate pictures of a fox, a knife and twisting patterns connecting every small image. Her mother said that her soulmate must be one hell of a character to produce ink like that on her body.

  She was twenty now, working at some coffee shop, going to an English university and studying programming. The tattoo was a sleeve these days, no longer plain, dashes of bright purple, russet, and blues splashing down her arm.

  But right now, at 8pm on a Tuesday evening was not the time to worry about that. It was the first day of classes for the semester, and she was running late.

  So Hyojin ran through a shower, quickly put on some makeup and clothes, and grabbed her backpack, fumbling with the key to lock her apartment behind her. The walk to Hall C took only minutes, and she managed to dash into a chair with thirty seconds to spare.

  The hall was almost full, around forty 20-somethings chatting quietly surrounded by identical desks and the dreary greys of the walls. Most people spoke animatedly to their friends, others sat, head against their chair-back and eyes closed, trying to catch a few more minutes of rest. And some folks sat silently alone, as Hyojin did- it was her sophomore year of college after all, the social scene was not of as great importance to her as it used to.

  She was lifted out of her observation by the door smacking open, and someone entering the lecture hall with a bundle of heavy wires tangled in their arms. All she could see was the top of a reddish-blonde head before another person strode in through the entryway behind the wired stranger, this time the professor, all graying hair, beer belly and tweed, directing her attention away from the mystery person.

  For the next hour and a half, Hyojin pretended to listen to the aging man drone about coding, gazing unaware at a spot on the wall a few inches above his head. And when the professor finished his lecture, closing the class, she stayed seated for a few moments as the rest of the group rushed for the door.

  The professor left with the students, leaving Hyojin seemingly alone. She stood up slowly, stretching her arms high into the air, inadvertently exposed her stomach, until she was startled by a voice coming from the front of the room.

  “You should probably check to see if there’s anyone around before exposing yourself sweetheart. A meaner soul than me could be lurking.”

  Hyojin’s head snapped up to see the stupid strawberry-blonde head from before, this time attached to a tangible person, who happened to be leaning against the lectern nonchalantly, smirking at her. The boy’s eyes gleaming with amusement. 

  She glared at him, slightly annoyed to from being caught off guard by ‘funny guy.’ Readjusting her shirt to cover any remaining skin, she maintained eye contact with him until she could zip her laptop in her bag and make her way down the stairs to the podium.

  “Excuse me? I don’t think we’ve met before, er…..” she trailed off, standing in front of her surprise acquaintance.

  “Niall. I’m the new teaching assistant for the class this semester. But what’s really important is your name.” The guy smirked again, sending a fresh wave of irritation trough her, along with a shiver of something she couldn’t quite identify. Giddiness?

  “Hyojin. I’ve never seen you around before, and typically, before I show my midriff to someone, I’ve hung out with them first.” She returned his smirk, deciding to play his little game for a while, causing his lips to twitch into a real smile for a fraction of a second.

  “Well then Hyojin, I think it’s high time I hang out with you then, because I’d like to see more of that midriff sometime.” He followed with a wink, smiling even wider, making a dilemma for Hyojin. Should she invite him back to her apartment and fuck his brains out, or punch him square in the jaw. Near the beginning of their short conversation, she would’ve chosen the latter. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  But she still pushed her bangs out of her eyes, and sidled closer to Niall looked up at him through her lashes.

  “I’ll allow you to accompany me whilst I walk out of this hall. If you’re good, maybe we can talk more about that ‘getting to know each other’ thing.” 

He instantly leaned up, smiling and straightening his shirt before gesturing for her to exit the room first.

  “I have to lock up love.” Hyojin nodded, and stood next to the benches outside, watching Niall’s lean body gather his things and twist the handle closed, fiddling with the strap on her bag. She had never been so forward with a guy in her life, but this felt ok. Good even. Niall didn’t make her feel uncomfortable at all, even though he was obviously flirting with her, something that usually caused her head to spin.

  In fact, not a single thing about their interactions felt wrong- everything was natural, like a puzzle falling into place, a total cliché, but Hyojin had to admit it was true.

  Any introspective thoughts were chased from her mind when Niall turned around, nearly blinding her with his wide, infectious grin.

  “Shall we? I know it’s a little cold for an Aussie at this time of year.” She could hear the mirth in his voice, realizing he’d definitely noticed her rather out-of-place accent in the tiny British village.

  “I’ll be fine,” she huffed, creating a puff of steam, turning her body slightly to roll her eyes in his direction. He shook his head, chuckling.

  “I was just concerned about your adjustment skills, seeing as you still use those Australian inflections whilst in the great kingdom of Britain.” He crossed his arms in fake defiance, pursing his lips and purposefully avoided her eyes.

  Hyojin sighed in fake exasperation, trying to get the attractive boy to acknowledge her once more, but Niall kept turning his cheek to dodge her attempts to snap him out of his joke. So she decided to play it dirty. She grasped the collar of his shirt, pulling the side of his head to whisper in his ear.

  “If you don’t stop that Niall, I might have to rethink my choice to let you come to my apartment. And to think, I was gonna expose much more than my midriff too.” His eyes shot open, and he smirked once more.

  “Lead the way then Hyojin.” She smiled now, aloof, grabbing his hang and beginning to take long strides in the direction of her place. Behind her, his footsteps crunched heavier than her own in the inches of fresh snow.

  The two of them strode silently, occasionally smiling excitedly at one another as they creeped closer and closer to their destination. It was not even ten minutes before she let go of Niall’s hand to open the front door for the shivering man.

  As the it swung shut behind them, Hyojin shook away the mass of snowflakes that’d accumulated in her hair, and removed her scarf & hat, hanging them on the foyer hook, revealing her rosy cheeks and nervous grin. Niall followed suit, trailing after her as she began to ascend the worn wooden steps leading to her unit.

  The pair climbed all five flights of stairs until reaching the last weathered door at the very top, with an old brass number '9' affixed to the front. Hyojin glanced at her door & the peeling wallpaper, before giving Niall a small smile that was nearly apologetic.

  “Sorry if you expected something, uh, better than this. I promise it’s not a shitty place, it’s jus-“ Niall cut her off.

  “Hyojin, I don’t know what you think of me, or anything else, but I don’t give a shit where you live. I’m here for one thing- and that’s you.” He smiled, softer than before, soothing her nerves enough to prompt Hyojin to reach into her bag for her keys.

  “Thank you. I mean it.” She stated earnestly, unlocking the door and leading him into her apartment, she flicked the light switch, turning on the soft glow of her string lights, illuminating the coziness of the space for Niall to take in. Hyojin searched his face for a response, self-conscious of her small living quarters and décor choices. Yet, she saw no kind of judgement in his face. Just warmth, and want.

  He stepped closer to her, and tilted her chin up, pressing his lips to her ear, whispering.

  “There’s no need to apologize Hyojin. I think you can tell, I want to be here.” His voice was the deepest it’d been all evening, sending yet another shiver down her spine and weakening her knees. Before she lost the opportunity, Hyojin twisted her head until her lips replaced her ear on his soft ones.

  Their mouths instantly moved together without hesitation, giving and taking in beautifully equal parts, clouding her mind and urging Hyojin to run her fingers through the fine hairs on the back of Niall’s neck, deepening their kiss. His hands found their way to her back, pulling her as close as possible to him, melding them together. He briefly broke their connection to whisper once more.

  “You know,” he rolled his hips slightly against hers, spurring a faint moan from the back of her throat., “I’d be alright with seeing that midriff again today.” Hyojin could feel him smirk against her lips, and she laughed quietly.

  “Well, only because you’re such a catch Niall!” She declared, ghosting her fingers across the hem of his jeans before lifting the bottom of her shirt over her head, revealing a pale, lacy bra and the winding tattoos of the right side of her torso & arm, collapsing onto the couch. She tugged him down to resume making out, only to see Niall gazing at her body, shock registering in his eyes. She could feel his pupils crawling across her skin, creating goosebumps in their wake.

  Yet Hyojin still didn’t feel a speck of judgement from the man in front of her, only disbelief, though she couldn’t for the life of her, figure out what was so surprising to him, until she scanned her body where his eyes had raked across her, remembering the extensive arrangements of unusual ink that decorated her skin.

  After what felt like hours, Niall’s gaze finally returned to meet hers, still reflecting incredulity in their pale green. He opened his mouth, closed it, a opened it again, this time to speak.

  “Wh-where did those come from love? Are they all your original, or are they, uh, additional pieces?” His voice shook, returning to gape at the tattoos. Hyojin swallowed, and cleared her throat.

  “They’re my originals. Why Niall? Is everything ok?” He met her eyes once more, shaking his head as though to clear his brain.

  “Because those are my original characters on your body Hyojin. Nobody in my real life knows what they are.” Niall quickly yanked his own t-shirt off, exposing his own chest, which bore black swirling lines that wrapped around each other, trailing down to his hips and up to the back of his neck. In the center of these patterns were a single knife, and wrapped around the hilt was some kind of necklace, with a small geometric shape hanging from the bottom.

  After a moment of observation, she realized the shape was a crystal pendant, identical to the one that’d been around her neck for as long as she could remember. She reached out, running her fingers along the slight grooves of his tattoo.

  Hyojin gasped, staring right into Niall’s eyes, feeling somehow even more _right_ than any point previously. And of course she did, because she’d found him. 

Her soulmate.

  Niall’s confusion quickly turned to joy at the same time as her, both of their faces breaking out into expressions of unbridled joy and passion, wrapping their arms tightly around each other for dear life.

  She broke their hug first, grasping both his hands as though he might disappear. They both opened their mouths to speak at the same time.

  “I thought I’d never find you!” “I never thought I’d see my soulmate.” Both smiled at the same time, staring at each other, just trying to process the information so unexpectedly presented to them, until Hyojin shivered, causing Niall to pull her close to him, warming her in his arms.

  She hummed contentedly, and Niall leaned back against the cushions of Hyojin’s couch, lightly placing his chin on the top of her head.

  They laid together for quite a while, listening to each others' heartbeat as evening slipped into night, and sleep overtook them.

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. The title is a Whitewoods song lmao


End file.
